


The Smile In Your Eyes

by Yutaeism



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Language, M/M, Tags Added As I Go, aka a rollercoaster of feels, i'm sorry in advance, like a couple times but he might appear later idk yet, mentioned s.coups, mentioned vernon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-07-25 23:20:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7551088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yutaeism/pseuds/Yutaeism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mingyu is clingy. As his best friend, Wonwoo is most frequently clung to.</p>
<p>Or so he believed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Old Habits Die Hard

**Author's Note:**

> a warning that I'm not that great at summaries
> 
> also apologies because at first I was going for mansae era with their hair colors but then some are pretty u era and I'm a mess I'm so sorry

Mingyu had a penchant for always holding things.

It didn’t matter what it was - he just liked the feeling of something in his hands, of something in his arms. His mom would tell everyone that it probably stemmed from her either always cuddling him, or him always falling asleep with his tiny arms tightly wrapped around whatever stuffed animal was within reach. His grandmother would say that it was because he became so used to her always giving him something to carry around: from toys to something they were buying at the store, she made sure he was never empty-handed. His father would laugh, his sister would tease him, but everyone always knew Mingyu for being a very cuddly person.

Especially his best friend.

When they first met, he thought it was weird - Mingyu rarely kept his hands free, even when out to recess at school. Their first interaction was because Mingyu asked if he could join him Lego building, then promptly sat down even as the other boy just stared at him quietly.

“I’m Mingyu,” he introduced himself - small, still-had-a-little-baby-fat, 10 year old Mingyu, smiled at the one he’d so casually interrupted.

The other, older boy blinked at him, perplexed. “‘m Wonwoo,” he mumbled as he focused back on his masterpiece. Well… what _would_ be a masterpiece, had he not been so rudely distracted. And if the other kid would stop stealing his Legos.

“Hi, Wonwoo,” Mingyu beamed, as if it were such an accomplishment that he managed to just squeeze himself into whatever what going on here. Wonwoo didn’t acknowledge him this time, his attention completely on his Legos again, attempting to salvage what could have been greatness. Upon realizing such, Mingyu started to build something of his own, watching the other out of the corner of his eye, smiling at his concentration.

During recess the next day, Mingyu found Wonwoo half swallowed by the bean bag chair on the far side of the room, nose buried in a book, away from the rest. He came over with a fork - why a fork, even Mingyu wasn’t sure, but he had it and he wasn’t gonna let it go now - and stepped around to Wonwoo’s left side, craning his neck to inspect the cover. The reading boy merely glanced in his direction, expression unchanging.

“Whatcha reading?” Mingyu asked as he sat down beside the bean bag, clamping his teeth around the fork tines, flashing a smile.

“‘s on the front,” Wonwoo mumbled as his eyes shot back to the pages before him.

Mingyu again cocked his head to the side, this time fork in his mouth, hands grabbing at his ankles. His eyebrows knitted together as he tried to concentrate on the words in front of him, despite the awkward angle.

“The…”

Wonwoo shut the book, his small hand obscuring the title. “What are you doing.” It was less a question and more a hint as Wonwoo straightened up as best as one could in a leather bag full of… whatever bean bags were full of.

Removing the fork from his mouth again, Mingyu beamed in response. “Trying to read the title of your book.” Wonwoo shook his head, wondering why this kid was bugging him, why he went so far out of his way to come interrupt his peace.

“Why are you by yourself, anyway?”

The older boy’s gaze shot back towards the other, eyebrows raised slightly, before quickly looking back to his book.

“It’s quiet,” he mumbled, bluntly.

“Oh... “ Mingyu’s eyes dropped to the book in Wonwoo’s hands. “I guess it’s nice to have a little bit of quiet time…”

Wonwoo looked up again as he heard the other boy shift, rising to his feet. Yet when he thought he was going to be alone again, Mingyu instead walked over to the bookshelf just nearby and pulled another book out before settling back in the same spot. Wonwoo blinked between Mingyu’s face - fork once again secure between his teeth - and the hardcover he was now cracking open.

“But wouldn’t it be better to spend some quiet time with a friend?”

As he turned to the beginning of the first chapter, Mingyu peeked up through his bangs, catching the faint hint of a smile decorating the older boy’s face as he settled back, flipping to where he’d left off just a moment ago.

It continued similarly from then on - wherever Wonwoo found himself, whatever he was doing, it wasn’t long until Mingyu also found him. His solitude was disturbed, yet he never bothered to tell the other kid off. He never invited him along, yet he never sent him away either. He just came to accept that this was how it was now, for whatever reason.

As years passed, Mingyu came to learn that Wonwoo was actually almost a full year older than him, and had it not been for the joint grade classes they were in, the younger boy might not have ever even met him. (Sometimes Mingyu did think about that possibility, and he’d always frown to himself. Wonwoo would always look at him when it happened and question it, but Mingyu would always shake his head at the other. No matter how many times it happened, that was how it was.) He found that Wonwoo wasn’t necessarily anti-social, but he wasn’t particularly social either - rather, he somehow managed a pleasant median.

Before, Mingyu would always try to bring Wonwoo into things, or try to bring people to Wonwoo - he’d say hi, but usually only would stick around for a little while. And god forbid you asked him to a party.

But, Mingyu found comfort in the fact that Wonwoo never pushed him away. As often as he would walk away from major gatherings, it seemed like he would always be waiting for Mingyu to catch up. The younger boy held onto that idea the first time he reached for Wonwoo’s hand.

They were sitting in the field during their lunch break, back to back - Wonwoo with his book, Mingyu finishing up his snacks following his meal.

“That cloud reminds me of a dog,” the now-taller high school freshman absent-mindly noted.

“You know I don’t like dogs,” the still-older sophomore retorted.

“But you like me,” the former chuckled.

Wonwoo glanced over his shoulder, a confused expression pulling at his brow. “You’re not a dog?”

Mingyu shifted, turning to look at Wonwoo’s face, his sharp canines poking out in an awkwardly endearing way as he smiled. “I’ve been told before that I sometimes remind people of a puppy. And you like me. Therefore, you must like at least _some_ dogs.” The grin on his face was stupid - this, Wonwoo was sure of - and he could think of at least a hundred ways his logic was so flawed, but instead of pointing out all the ways that he was _so very wrong_ , he just stared back at his friend.

The younger boy laughed again, turning and flopping back onto the grass beside Wonwoo, who raised an eyebrow while the other continued to gaze upwards at the sky.

“That one looks… like ocean waves.” Mingyu snickered to himself, like he’d just cracked the greatest joke that only he understood.

Wonwoo shook his head as he turned his attention back to his reading.

“That one looks like a bunch of flowers, and that’s an elephant… I think. ‘ey, Wonwoo-hyung, does that look like an elephant to you?”

With a sigh, Wonwoo dog-eared the page and shut the book. Setting it down beside him, he leaned back on his hands and gazed upward, deciding that he would not be able to get reading done this time, even with how used to Mingyu’s idle chattering he was.

“Yeah, I see it,” he almost whispered in agreement, to which his friend whooped, punching a fist into the air triumphantly.

“Called it!”

The older boy looked at him again, but this time he couldn’t help how the corner of his lips tugged upwards, watching Mingyu’s expression so full of glee.

“I see that smile.” Mingyu nudged him smugly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wonwoo shot back with a smirk, laying back himself, one hand resting behind his head. “Look, it’s an airplane.”

Mingyu’s eyes followed where the other’s hand pointed, always happy for those moments when Wonwoo let himself be genuine around the younger boy. He felt a slight flutter in his chest every time.

The older boy let his hand fall back into the grass lazily, exhaling deeply, catching his friend’s attention again. His eyes were shut, his face calm, his breathing even - he looked so at ease, the freshman felt like _he_ would be upset if someone were to disturb the other.

Mingyu let his own hand fall away from where it was resting on his chest, glancing over again as it brushed against Wonwoo’s, finding no reaction from his companion. Glancing back up at the sky for a moment, he let his own eyes slide shut as he rolled his hand over the other’s, before slipping through and wrapping around it.

To anyone passing by, it looked like they had fallen asleep. But behind the arm that Mingyu had draped over his face, he smiled as he felt Wonwoo squeeze back, ever so slightly.

Mingyu would test the limits frequently, from when it was just the two of them to when they were out with friends. He’d grab the shorter boy’s hand at random, sometimes lace his fingers between the other’s. Sometimes he’d just come up behind the other and wrap his arms around his waist, his chin on Wonwoo’s shoulder. Rarely, Wonwoo would shrug him off, or pull away, but the more often Mingyu did it, the less Wonwoo fought. It was harmless, wasn’t it? Besides… of all people, Wonwoo knew how cuddly Mingyu could be.

He was less of a dog and more of an attention-hungry cat. And if he had to choose, Wonwoo would definitely be more of a cat person.

 

\---

 

“So, when are you planning on doin’ it?” Soonyoung beamed as he almost scattered all the papers across the coffee table.

Opposite him, Jihoon threw the blonde a dirty look. “Soonyoung, please, this paper is due _tomorrow_ and I know you’re nowhere near done.”

Resting his elbows on the desk, Soonyoung tossed a casually dismissive glance towards the shorter boy, who shook his head in annoyance. He rested his chin on his palms as he continued grinning up at Wonwoo.

Blinking slowly, he stared back.

“If you mean my paper, I think you’re asking the wrong person.” The raven haired boy turned back to the sheets in his hand, a small smirk teasing on his own face, pleased with his own cleverness. Beside him, even Jihoon snickered.

Soonyoung’s smile widened - how it could grow any bigger than the cheesy smiles he always had on his face, Wonwoo would never be sure - as he continued to look at the other.

After a few minutes of trying to ignore him, Wonwoo pulled his glasses off, massaging the bridge of his nose. “What, Soonyoung.”

“Prom!” His voice exploded, as if he’d been simmering the word since the beginning of this whole scene. “Are you gonna ask anyone to prom? Maybe even a certain junior?” The overly-excited blonde wiggled his eyebrows teasingly. Wonwoo’s fingers splayed out to massage his eyeballs as he inwardly groaned.

“You know I don’t do school dances.”

“But I bet Mingyu would have so much fun!” In the short span of time between when he had his eyes open and now, Soonyoung wound up on the armrest of the couch, nudging Wonwoo with his elbow. “I bet you guys could win King and Queen if we nominated you.” Wonwoo didn’t need to look at him to know he was winking not-so-subtly towards Jihoon, who just rolled his eyes with a chuckle this time. Sometimes, Wonwoo found himself questioning how he was friends with people like this, but always quickly realized he wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Well, except Soonyoung in this very moment.

“What are you talking about, nominating me and Mingyu… He’s not a senior, and even if he was, you can’t because _he’s a guy._ ” He shifted over towards Jihoon, causing the blonde to lose his balance and fall, his head landing just by Wonwoo’s hip.

“So?” He took the opportunity to start poking Wonwoo in the side, still beaming cheekily.

“Soonyoung,” the taller boy fought off the offending jabs with his elbow.

Poke.

“Soonyoung.”

Poke.

“SOONYOUNG.”

Giggle.

Wonwoo stood up suddenly, rubbing the abused spot with his free hand. He glanced at Jihoon apologetically as he gathered up his books and worksheets, before stuffing everything in his backpack beside his laptop.

“You gonna be alright doing the paper by yourself?” Jihoon quirked an eyebrow up at him.

Nodding, he adjusted his glasses back up his nose. “I’m pretty sure I got enough to finish it off on my own. I’ll just call Junhui if I really need it.”

Soonyoung pouted. “Aww, Wonwoo, don’t go~”

“I can’t get any work done with you bugging me, and I kinda need to get this done. And so do you. You’re lucky Jihoon puts up with you.”

“It’s not my fault you always get so touchy when it comes to Mingyu! Literally,” he snickered, quickly hiding his face behind his hand when it was Wonwoo’s turn to throw him a dirty look.

Wonwoo shook his head at the other boy - how was he older than both him AND Jihoon again? - before glancing around once more to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. He grabbed a couple cans of Coke from the box nearby and waved to them. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Good luck,” Jihoon rose the papers in his hand in farewell, waving over his shoulder, while Soonyoung continued to pout, watching Wonwoo’s back as he slipped his shoes on.

After the door clicked shut, the blonde turned towards the other boy.

“Do you think he’ll ever admit it?”

“What, that you’re a terrible choice in study partner and we should have stopped inviting you over whenever we’re trying to do homework a long time ago?” Jihoon’s brow was furrowed as he stared down at the page in front of him, groaning as he quickly scribbled out a mistake and scrawled out the correct response.

Soonyoung waved off the question with a scoff, chuckling. “I am a great study partner. You’re just too serious about everything!” For what seemed like the first time all day, he picked up his own notebook, flipping through pages until he came to one with multiple sticky notes affixed to it. “But no. Do you think he’ll admit that Mingyu makes him better?”

Rolling his eyes again, Jihoon placed what he was holding down atop the pile before him, turning towards his friend. “Soonyoung, you sound like an ass. In any case, Wonwoo will say what he wants to say, when he wants to say it. You know that.” With that, he clicked his pen a few times and went back through sorting through his notes.

Beside him, the other boy snickered. “He just looks like he’s having more fun with Mingyu around, so I thought that maybe if Mingyu said he would, maybe we could all do prom night together, at least for our last prom, like, probably ever.” He glanced up from his notebook to the peach-haired boy. “For the memories, yknow?”

Soonyoung’s smile was soft as he noticed the other boy focused on his work, so he turned back to his own and decided to actually get something done. Although he may have seemed like it at the time, the blonde wasn’t a slacker; he was always just trying to keep the mood light and keep his friends from getting too stressed out. But when it came time to buckle down, he did what he needed to do. His face twisted in concentration as he brought up a knee up on the couch to balance his notebook against.

Jihoon’s hand stilled at his friend’s words. _For the memories._ He shook his head lightly and went back to his work, however. Wonwoo knew how to make his own decisions.

 

\---

 

“Hyung.”

“Mm?”

“Eat.”

“Mm.”

A paper bag landed softly near his work, barely ruffling some of the sheets as Wonwoo poured over the information scribbled all over them. From within, Mingyu pulled out 4 burgers and 2 containers of fries, before turning towards the kitchen cupboards to produce two glasses.

“Do you just have that paper or were there other assignments you need to do?” Mingyu asked as he opened the fridge, pulling out the cans that Wonwoo had brought over with him from Jihoon’s.

“Just this for tomorrow… There’s a couple of other things I have later in the week, and tests on Tuesday and Friday I probably should study for…” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses, earning a laugh out of Mingyu.

“Being Jeon Wonwoo sounds like _such_ a hard life,” Mingyu teased, a shark-toothed grin decorating his face as he slid into the seat beside the senior, pushing the second glass towards him. “But that’s why you have your best friend in the _whole wide world_ , the kind-hearted, selfless Kim Mingyu, here to take care of you in your times of dire need, like _finals week_.”

Wonwoo looked up at the other boy, trying not to smile but failing terribly.

“You’re an idiot, Mingyu. Why are we friends again?” Wonwoo laughed as he playfully shoved him in the arm.

“Because _you_ like me so much and _you_ never said no whenever I bugged you when we were younger,” Mingyu’s eyebrows quirked up coyly, pairing far too well with his shit-eating grin.

“ _That_ is because _I_ am the nicest person _you_ have ever met, and younger me felt bad for the poor kid who apparently wanted to be friends with me _that badly_.” This time, Wonwoo’s face broke into his own sly smile, crinkling his eyes into slits.

To anyone else, that kind of expression from Wonwoo would have been a rare sight - to Mingyu, these were commonplace, but nonetheless treasured moments. They were moments that only Mingyu was really able to bring out.

“Yeah, sure, _of course_ that’s how it happened,” Mingyu snickered as he took a sip of his drink. “Now shut up and eat already, or else you’re gonna start working and forget again.”

“Yes, _Mom_ ,” Wonwoo mocked before chuckling again and grabbing one of the cheeseburgers from the pile.

“Wonwoo-hyung, if I was your mom, you’d have weird dimples from me pinching your cheeks all the time.”

Mingyu winked teasingly and Wonwoo shoved his arm again, scoffing something about _don’t even think about that_ as he took a bite out of his food with one hand, jotting down things here and there with his free hand.

A few hours later, Wonwoo finally stood up from his spot, stretching noisily. From where he was lounging on the couch in the living room just nearby, Mingyu looked up from his laptop.

“Done?”

“Pretty much. I’ll probably just have someone look at it tomorrow to check me.” He rolled his shoulders, groaning as he unwound the joints that had tensed up from being hunched over the table for so long, feeling like he was about 40 times as old as he actually was.

Mingyu snickered. “Hyung, come here.”

Wonwoo glanced at him with a slight grimace after a particularly loud crack from his back. The younger boy watched him, snickering. “Are you laughing at my pain?”

“Yes, you’re pathetic. Now come here.”

He rolled his eyes but complied regardless, plopping himself into the couch cushions beside the other boy.

“Nah. Turn.” Mingyu spun his finger around above Wonwoo’s head, similarly to how the latter rolled his eyes - again - at the command.

“What are you--”

Mingyu’s hands went to work quickly on the older boy’s shoulders, roughly - yet purposefully - pressing into the knots formed in the muscles there. Wonwoo cringed at first, but as soon as he felt the tension slowly melting off with each meticulously placed pinch, he started to relax.

“What the shit, Mingyu, when did you learn to give shoulder rubs like this and why have you been holding out on me all these years?” The senior groaned blissfully as his friend dug the pads of his thumbs into the base of his neck with concentrated vigor. With a chuckle, the younger boy shook his head.

“Nowhere special, and because you’ve never asked.”

Although he couldn’t see it, Wonwoo _knew_ that Mingyu had that so-very-Mingyu shit-eating grin on his face right now again. But he was willing to let that smug attitude slide _just this one time_ , and only because he had somehow become a masseur without Wonwoo knowing.

“A nice friend would have offered if he was capable of it.” His brow pinched together with momentary pain, before fading into relief again as Mingyu’s knuckles worked below his shoulder blades.

“A nice friend _did_ offer, which is why you’re sitting on my couch, with my hands all over you.” The senior would have argued and thrown him a dirty look at the obvious snark in his tone, but he was a little busy being more relaxed than he’d been in months.

After a few minutes more minutes of what felt like _pure magic_ , Mingyu pinched a few pressure points, nodding when he found the previous knots now at least mostly unwound. “How do you feel?”

Wonwoo grumbled, turning to sink into the couch cushions, rolling his head to loosen up his neck.

“...Hyung?”

Scoffing, the older of the two stretched his arms above his head. “Like shit.”

Mingyu’s face dropped, expecting at least an ‘alright’ or a ‘thanks’ - it wasn’t _that_ bad, was it?

Wonwoo glanced up at the taller boy’s face, a devilish smirk forming on his own.

“You’re an ass,” the junior cracked a smile as he slapped the other in the arm, laughing.

“I think I’ve more than earned the right to be whatever I want to be, seeing how I’m stuck with _yours_ ,” he teased back before starting to snicker himself.

“Hey now, you don’t have to be jealous, at least you get to be blessed by its presence on a daily basis.” Mingyu winked again as he stood up, posing.

Wonwoo shook his head as Mingyu sat back down before they both burst into more laughter for another minute. When finally they composed themselves again, Wonwoo slid his phone from his back pocket to check the time.

“Shit,” he exclaimed, jolting up. “It’s almost 11?” In a mild panic, he rushed around the kitchen, gathering all his work into a haphazard mess of a pile.

“Chill, Wonwoo,” came Mingyu’s voice, smooth and calm and collected, as he grabbed hold of the older boy’s wrist, pulling him back from his handiwork. “It’s _only_ 11\. And it’s not like you were out partying or something.” With a relaxed smile, he slide his hand into the other’s, squeezing reassuringly.

Wonwoo stared into his face, wiping his own emotionless for a moment, before letting his shoulders drop and exhaling. “Right. But I should get home and get some sleep…”

“Did you drive?”

He looked at his sloppy stack, biting his lip.

“...how about you just stay the night?”

Looking back at his taller friend, he searched his face for anything that could possibly lead him to refuse - but the smile that watched him back was Mingyu’s, his _best friend_.

It wasn’t Soonyoung, who’d end up keeping him awake for half the night with his hyperactivity before passing out like a drunkard and leaving him wondering if either of them will wake up in the morning. (It happened before.)

It wasn’t Jihoon, who, if he wasn’t still studying, would have been in bed by 8PM, and would have thrown him a dirty look for getting up at 9 to use the restroom.

It wasn’t Junhui, it wasn’t Seungcheol, it wasn’t Seokmin, it wasn’t Hansol.

It was Mingyu. Wonwoo rarely had reason to say no to Mingyu - as much as he would never admit it - because whenever he actually offered something it was usually a good idea. (There have been times where it wasn’t, and Wonwoo would hold those against him till the day they both died.)

Mingyu’s lips quirked up more as the taller boy began to chuckle slightly again. “You still have some clothes here, and we know you fit into mine if you really need it.” His fingers now laced with the other’s, he began to pull Wonwoo towards his room.

They both knew Wonwoo was going to agree from the beginning anyway.

 

\---

 

“How’d you get to school this morning? Junhui got here alone and said you told him you didn’t need a ride last night.” Soonyoung raised an eyebrow in his direction at they sat around the table during lunch. Wonwoo glanced up from the study guide he was pouring over to raise his own eyebrow back towards the blonde. Beside him, Mingyu snickered.

“Oh, I see,” on Wonwoo’s other side, Junhui smirked before continuing to eat his lunch.

Soonyoung’s gaze moved between the two of them, slightly lost. Wonwoo shook his head as he continued to read, eyes quickly darting downwards occasionally in an attempt to feed his stomach in addition to his brain.

“Wait… what?” Soonyoung looked at all the three seated across from him, then to the two flanking him. “I don’t get it?”

Seokmin smiled cheekily back. “It’s okay, Soonyoung. I don’t get it either.” A ray of sunshine like always, he laughed it off and proceeded with his own food.

“He came to school with me,” Mingyu finally offered, to which he was met with a joint exclamation of realization from the two of them.

“Wait, why would you drive all the way over to Wonwoo’s that early?” This time was Jihoon’s turn to look confused as he peered over his own study guide.

Another laugh countered the question as Mingyu slung an arm over Wonwoo’s shoulders, pulling him slightly closer. “Because it’s Wonwoo-hyung, of course.” He winked as both Jihoon and Junhui rolled their eyes so hard it was a surprise they didn’t pop out of their sockets. Even the dark-haired boy under his arm side-eyed him oddly.

“Nah. He was over late last night so I told him to just stay over since he didn’t drive himself.” He shrugged, though his expression remained playful. His arm dropped away from the boy’s shoulder to instead link with the arm closest to him, returning his attention back to his lunch.

Soonyoung gasped pseudo-dramatically as he refocused on the boy in the middle. “I wonder what you got into last night,” he grinned slyly.

Again, Wonwoo rolled his eyes - was it dangerous to roll his eyes this much? - as he looked over his work at his blonde friend once more. “A bed, by myself, to sleep more than whenever I’m at your place.” He adjusted his arm to more comfortably accommodate Mingyu’s as he tried again to focus in on his study guide.

“Aww, that’s harsh, man. Mingyu showers you with so much love and you just steal his bed and don’t even offer to cuddle? I knew you were cold but that’s heartless, Wonwoo.”

So much for studying. Wonwoo sighed, shaking his head before looking back at Soonyoung, whose face rested in his hands, eyes narrowed into devious slits, still smiling that smile that looked so cheerful and innocent - but Wonwoo knew. For all the years he’d known Soonyoung (too long, it felt sometimes), he’d seen this look far too often.

“It’s okay, hyung, he’s always been like this. I’m used to it. Why do you think he can’t seem to pin down a girlfriend? I’m the only one who can deal with his ass.” Mingyu looked over at the boy beside him, smirking at his mildly offended look. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

Turning towards his taller friend, Wonwoo’s previous expression was quickly replaced by a bemused smile that pulled at his lips and a questioning eyebrow quirking up. “Excuse you? Since when I was your sweetheart?”

The smirk melted into a full on grin, his cheekbones prominent as his eyes crinkled into slits, chuckling as he slipped his hand into the other’s, lacing their fingers together as if it were second nature to him. “I think there’s some unspoken law that we’re basically married with how long we’ve been together.” He winked again, playfully.

“Oh, is that so? I think your definition of ‘together’ is a little different from what would qualify for being married,” Wonwoo countered, flashing a his own smirk now.

“Aww, Soonyoung, aren’t they so gross when they get like this?” Junhui teased from Wonwoo’s other side.

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘adorable’ and yes, they are,” Seokmin chimed in, snickering. Soonyoung also giggled, high-fiving the younger boy.

Yet again, Wonwoo rolled his eyes while Mingyu continued to laugh to himself.

“I need to study,” the older boy announced, standing, partially untangling himself from Mingyu as he did. He glanced over towards Jihoon, who raised an eyebrow in his direction, though his gaze remained on the paper before him. “I’m going to the library. Did you want to go?”

Jihoon waved him off. “I need to go see our chem teacher in 5 for test revisions. I only got a B on the last quiz.” Wonwoo nodded as he removed himself completely from his friend, packing his things up and shoveling the rest of his food in his mouth before tossing it in the trash behind him. With a snicker, Mingyu stood up, grabbing a napkin to dab at the stray bits of food attempting to escape from the raven haired boy’s lips. Wonwoo froze slightly as he let him, before Soonyoung’s yelling pulled his attention away.

“ _Only_ a B?!” He looked at their peach haired friend, eyes wide. “I was happy to get a B- on it, it was so hard!” He pouted.

“That’s why we _study_ when we’re all at my house after school, you know, that thing we’ve been calling our _study group_ for the past year and a half?”

“I’ll go with you,” Mingyu whispered to the older boy, who was shaking his head at his so-called study group. With another smile, he slipped his hand back into Wonwoo’s, starting to pull him away as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

Junhui peeked over his shoulder as they departed - next to Mingyu, he was probably the closest to Wonwoo, but even he had never been able to get him to smile as brightly as he did whenever he was with Mingyu. The brunette grinned to himself as he watched the two of them: Wonwoo letting himself be pulled along, smirking playfully as he pretended to be unable to walk, Mingyu showing off his canines as he joked with letting him fall, before they shoved each other and resumed walking. It was good to see him looking so happy, when so frequently he looked far too serious over everything.

“Mun Junhui!” Soonyoung slammed his palm into the table, causing the eldest at the table to jolt slightly as he quickly whipped his head back. One of his eyebrows shot up in confusion at the blonde.

“What did you get on the chemistry test yesterday?!”

“...A-.”

Soonyoung’s normally narrow eyes widened even more. “What?!”

Even Jihoon tossed him a curious look.

“A-? How did you score better than me?”

The Chinese boy shrugged. “Wonwoo did better.”

Soonyoung and Jihoon looked at each other, shocked.

“...better?” they asked in unison.

Again, he shrugged, glancing over his shoulder in the direction the other two had already disappeared to. “Aced it. Surprised he didn’t get an A+, honestly.”

“WHAT.”

 

\---

 

“Are you actually studying?” Mingyu asked, his gaze moving from the clouds to his friend’s face. Wonwoo simply hummed in reply, a short nod to punctuate his response without causing him to lose his spot. The younger of the two smirked a little - as tempting as it was to distract him from his work (and how easily he could), he admired the focus the other had.

The library ended up being too crowded, too stuffy, so here they were, in a spot where they often found themselves, a ways away from the rest of the school, secluded in one of the shadier spots on the field just off campus. Wonwoo leaned against the broad trunk of a tree they had tried to climb up a few times (they usually failed since the branches were actually fairly high up, but one time when Seungcheol was with them he’d managed to get rather high up) while Mingyu stared at the sky through the leaves, his head in his friend’s lap.

When a slight breeze rolled through and rustled Wonwoo’s packet, he sighed, letting his head fall back against the tree and dropping the packet beside the younger boy’s head.

“It’s almost over,” Mingyu smiled.

Looking down, Wonwoo met it with a grin of his own. “Yeah, until next quarter.”

“But at least it’s your last.”

The older boy didn’t miss the touch of sadness behind the encouragement. Releasing his hold on the study guide, he gently pet the top of Mingyu’s head, his grin softer.

“You say it like I’m gonna disappear afterwards. What happened to _you’re stuck with me now and nothing can change that_ Kim Mingyu?” He snickered, teasing the other as he messed with his hair.

Mingyu chuckled. “You _are_ stuck with me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still leave. I thought you were thinking about going to the same college as Seungcheol?”

Shrugging, Wonwoo let his hand fall away as he leaned back again, going over the idea in his head.

“Maybe.”

“Wh--”

The both of them looked over towards the school, the ringing of the bell to indicate the end of their lunch period cutting Mingyu off and earning a slight groan out of him. Wonwoo laughed as he packed his work away before they stood and began to head back.

Mingyu slipped his fingers between Wonwoo’s, smiling softly when he felt the other adjust to more comfortably lace their hands together. It was nice having a best friend who entertained his need to hold something.

 

\---

 

Soonyoung lay splayed across the couch, upside down, sighing overly dramatically. Seokmin laughed, poking him in the nose. The upside-down boy scrunched up his face before bursting into giggles himself. Interrupting the moment, Jihoon flung Soonyoung’s feet - almost knocking him to the floor, which earned a devious chuckle from the shorter one - to make space on the couch. Junhui sat on the floor across the coffee table, smirking at his friends’ antics.

Beside him, Wonwoo leaned back against his hands, stretching his legs out and attempting to get comfortable. Mingyu flashed a signature smile as he took his own spot between his best friend and Seokmin, who was now teasing Soonyoung with the help of Jihoon.

“Oh, Mingyu, did you--”

A knock at the door stopped Seokmin, catching everyone’s attention. Everyone looked over at the entryway, confused, except for Mingyu. None of their group of friends knocked; even then, everyone except Seungcheol - who was still at college - and Hansol - who had his own study group meetings - were already there.

“Yeah,” he nodded to Seokmin as he stood right back up to answer the door. Junhui and Wonwoo glanced to each other, an eyebrow raised curiously, almost mirroring each other in their wordless conversation. Soonyoung dropped to the floor, picking himself up and looking over the couch to see what was going on.

Mingyu smiled as he stepped to the side, allowing a light brunette haired male in.

“Hey guys,” the taller boy grinned, draping an arm around the new kid’s shoulders. “Th--”

Junhui almost fell over as he began laughing, cutting Mingyu off. Everyone else looked at him confused - Wonwoo, slightly concerned for his friend’s sudden loss of sanity, even scooted a bit away from him as he quirked an eyebrow up in his direction.

“Wen Junhui!”

Everyone’s attention turned to the new kid again, now more confused - one because _Wen Junhui?_ And two because now the both of them were laughing and everyone else was missing something.

“Xu Minghao!”

Junhui finally managed to compose himself, pulling himself to his feet between giggles to high-five the other boy before giving him a one-armed hug.

“You guys know each other?” Seokmin finally voiced for all of them, pulling everyone out of their momentary stupor.

Chuckles aside, the both of them nodded as Mingyu rejoined them.

“We know each other from outside of school. I’m Seo Myungho.” Beaming, he nodded to everyone politely.

“Xu Minghao?” Jihoon also arched an eyebrow in their direction, puzzled.

Myungho and Junhui snickered to each other once more.

“Sorry! It’s my Chinese name.”

“Oh!” The look of clarity on Soonyoung’s face spoke volumes for all of them. “Wait does that mean ‘Wen’ is _your_ Chinese name?” he asked, looking towards Junhui.

“Yeah.”

“Wow, how boring. Myungho’s got 2 totally different and totally interesting names, and you’re _Junhui_ with 2 surnames,” Wonwoo jested, glancing to Mingyu as his face broke into a playful grin. The younger boy smirked in return, nodding.

Junhui draped an arm across Myungho’s shoulders, feigning exasperation. “See what I mean, Minghao? This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis, even as I babysit all these children,” he sighed dramatically.

“Okay, Grandpa,” Mingyu snorted, which brought a laugh out of the whole group.

“Anyways, hello, Myungho, I’m Jihoon and welcome to this bunch of idiots we somehow call friends, and my house. Mingyu and Seokmin had something to do with you showing up, I presume?”

Ah Jihoon, straight to the point as always.

“Ah, right, he’s part of our study group!” Seokmin, as sunny as ever, beamed proudly.

Mild offense in his eyes, Soonyoung bounced up. “Why haven’t you brought him over before?!”

“Because we usually study together at school or my house… most of the time we’re over here, we’re just hanging out,” he frowned at the blonde, sad to have upset his best friend. The older boy’s eyes widened, before squinting back down to slits as he smiled.

“Better late than never!”

Seokmin’s own expression mirrored the other’s. Wonwoo chuckled lightly at the two of them. Typical rays of sunshine, never down for long, always feeding each other warmth - no wonder they were so close.

“Oh, yeah,” Mingyu began again. “Well… obviously you already know Junhui, and like he said that’s Jihoon-hyung. That’s Soonyoung-hyung, and this is Wonwoo.” He pointed the other two as he kind of introduced them to the new boy. Soonyoung continued to grin cheekily while Wonwoo gave a small wave before he removed his glasses to clean them on his shirt.

“Ah, you’re Wonwoo-hyung, huh…”

Pausing, he looked up, replacing said glasses as he curiously inspected the other. Myungho snickered before Seokmin called for his attention.

Wonwoo watched, still wondering what that was, as the junior study group sat down together, turning away from the seniors as they pulled out their own assignments. Mingyu peeked at him, catching his eye and smirking.

“Wonwoo, what did you end up doing for Lit?” Jihoon asked. Glancing over, he saw his friend inspecting the back cover of whatever book he had picked up. His gaze swept back to the juniors, now engrossed in their work, before he made the effort to move for his own bag finally, figuring if whatever that meant was important, he’d find out sooner or later.

 

\---

 

It didn’t take long for Myungho to become a part of the group - especially when Soonyoung realized he was a dancer. What did take a while was how long it took for him to show off said moves. But, as with most things, Soonyoung managed to convince him not only to sample said skills, but to also join the dance club AND join their group for prom -it only took the rest of finals week, and the first half of the first week of their last quarter. (They were counting. Seokmin and Soonyoung had a bet. Seokmin won.)

It was hard for those not used to it - aka, anyone who wasn’t in their circle of friends - to say no to a smile like Soonyoung’s.

“Do you guys have dates?” Myungho asked before popping a bite of his rice into his mouth.

Soonyoung half-stood in his seat and rose his hands, excitedly mumbling around the food in his own mouth. Shaking his head, Jihoon tugged him back down onto his butt, though his hands remained up. The blonde swallowed what was left in mouth before he began actually speaking.

“Seokmin or Jihoon are always my ‘date,’” insert overly exaggerated air quotes, “to dances!” Laughing, he high-fived the formerly mentioned boy beside him, while the latter sighed, shaking his head again in embarrassment.

“Wonwoo’s a downer that never goes, though,” Junhui teased from between Wonwoo and Myungho.

“Because he never asks anyone, even thou---” Soonyoung began, but quickly shut his mouth, giggling as Wonwoo’s eyes flung pointed daggers at him.

Myungho glanced over curiously just as Wonwoo turned back down at his own food.

“So you’re not planning on going, hyung?” he asked cautiously.

The raven haired male looked over, his face mostly expressionless as he scanned the other for a moment before speaking.

“Not really… I usually hang with the group for a bit then me and Mingyu go home and just hang out.”

“Oh, shit, that’s right…”

Wonwoo sat up straighter, slight concern blooming as he turned to Mingyu.

“Hyung,” the younger boy turned to his best friend, his own expression nervous, not quite looking at the other boy. “Uh… Well… Myungho actually asked if I would be his date to prom… and… uh…” Although he slipped his hand into Wonwoo’s gently like always, his eyes were apologetic as he finally looked into the other’s.

“I said yeah.”


	2. The World Is Too Quiet Without You Nearby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Next time, I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for how long it's taking me to get this updated, I've just been crazy busy :( I'll try to update more when I can T_T

“You should come with, Wonwoo-hyung! I’m sure we can figure out something to make it fun for you!” Myungho squished Mingyu between himself and Wonwoo as he leaned across the former in an attempt to talk to the latter. The tallest of the group snickered as Wonwoo squirmed his way out from underneath, feeling too crushed into the corner of Jihoon’s couch that they - for some reason - thought was a good idea to try to all cram on.

“Yeah, Wonwoo! Just this one dance, it’s our last real school dance in high school!” Soonyoung, seated on the floor between where Seokmin and Jihoon sat on the couch, beamed towards their now-standing friend.

Wonwoo, face strangely more devoid of expression than even usual, simply stared back before he half sat against the armrest as he thought about it. He felt a tingle shoot up his spine when Mingyu’s arm snaked around his waist, his hand lightly patting the side of his thigh as if to say _it’s okay to say no._

“I’ll think about it,” he half-whispered.

Repositioning so he was facing towards the movie they were (sort of) watching, he glanced down at his friend, who was actually somewhat paying attention to the screen. Something tickled the back of his mind as he blinked at Myungho leaning against Mingyu’s shoulder, the latter’s arm also wrapped around the younger Chinese boy. He looked back up at the screen, though for some reason he found focusing on what was happening suddenly that much more difficult.

\---

It was almost 2am as Wonwoo stared out the window, barely aware of the houses they were driving past.

“You’re more out of it than usual. What’s up?” Junhui glanced to his passenger out of the corner of his eye as he proceeded through the stop sign.

“...nothing,” Wonwoo sighed, sitting up straighter in his seat. He let his eyes slide close, leaning his head against the window. _It is nothing_ , he thought to himself, even as images of Mingyu appeared behind his eyelids.

It wasn’t odd to think about Mingyu. They were as close as can be, as close as brothers; they grew up together, did so much together - even back when Wonwoo would have liked to be alone, Mingyu would be there and he never protested. They were best friends - of course he’d think about him, because as much as he didn’t voice it, the kid did really mean a lot to him. He wouldn’t have kept him this close this long if he didn’t.

But again, something nagged at his mind.

Exhaling, he opened his eyes and went back to gazing out the window absentmindedly.

“Sure,” unconvinced, Junhui dropped the subject, for his friend’s sake. Maybe it’s just the pressure of it being their last quarter of high school? Right, that’s got to be it - they’re all feeling it, even ever-happy Soonyoung.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” the older of the two asked as they pulled up in front of Wonwoo’s. The raven haired boy quirked an eyebrow up as he glanced back towards the other. Junhui glanced at the road before turning just slightly to him, awaiting a response.

Wonwoo shrugged, looking away to reach out and unlock his door. “I didn’t really have anything planned… probably just gonna go over to Mingyu’s. Why?”

Junhui shook his head.

“Just curious.” He patted his friend on the shoulder. “I’m here for you, if you need it.”

When Wonwoo looked over this time, Junhui had his phone out, responding to a text message. The older male merely nodded to acknowledge that even noticed the other’s gaze.

After a moment, he nodded once himself and exited the vehicle. The mild chill of early morning air sent a shiver through him, causing him to exhale deeply before walking up to his door.

He pulled out his keys, unlocking the door before turning the knob to confirm access. Before pushing open, he turned to wave at his still-waiting friend, signalling an all-clear for him to leave. Junhui nodded, waving with a small smile before shifting out of park and pulling away.

Junhui never really _needed_ to wait, considering he lived 3 minutes down the street. But Wonwoo appreciated the gesture nonetheless, especially since the older boy sometimes came off as a bit cold and uncaring at first glance. As if to punctuate how close they were, the boy continued to stand at his door, watching as Junhui pulled into his own driveway a few houses away, waving again as he walked inside. The younger of the two smiled softly to himself as he finally entered his home, shutting and locking the entryway as quietly as possible before making a beeline to his room.

Did it really _bother_ him that Mingyu was going to prom with Myungho? The younger Chinese boy was actually extremely friendly, and it wasn’t hard to see why he managed to fit in with the group so well. No, he was happy his best friend said yes, because he was going to have fun. Right?

There was that awkward nagging feeling again.

If he didn’t go to prom with everyone too, he didn’t have anyone to hang out with that night. Sure, he could just go home and watch movies and pizza by himself, but it was always better with his best friend there.

With a deep sigh, he stood up, going over the scenarios in his head as he pulled his clothes off. _Our last real dance in high school._ Soonyoung’s excitement was always hard to contain, even if he was mostly immune to its infection.

“...okay,” he breathed out to his mirror as he tugged a shirt on over his head. “Okay.”

_To: Gyu 02:39_

_I’ll go_

_From: Gyu 02:40_

_Huh_

_To: Gyu 02:40_

_Prom_

_From: Gyu 02:41_

_Wait really? Omg awesome! We’ll make it fun for you okay? I promise you hyung!_

\---

There was this thing in their circle of friends, where nobody ever knocked on doors unless the door was actually locked. And even then, they would usually just text each other instead of knocking or ringing the doorbell.

It was partially Mingyu’s fault, because he had a bad habit of barging in without knocking anyways. (It wasn’t necessarily that he was trying to be rude - he was just _overly comfortable_ sometimes.) Part of it was because Jihoon always complained that everyone had terrible timing and he would have to go back to answer the door again after he’d just sat back down. And part of it was just because they were all a little lazy when it came to actually locking the door most of the time.

Which is why Wonwoo cocked an eyebrow in Mingyu’s direction when there was a knock at the front door, his mouth full of popcorn.

“Snap,” the younger boy laughed as he hopped up from his spot to answer it.

Wonwoo paused the movie they were watching, curiously watching his best friend.

“Oh, hey, sorry to interrupt?” Myungho waved as he stepped inside.

Mingyu shook his head, his signature playful smile decorating his face. “We were just watching a movie.” He sat down in the middle of the couch, inviting the youngest to also take a seat before looking back at the other.

“Sorry hyung! I forgot I invited Myungho over, we were gonna work on some homework…”

“Oh.” Wonwoo glanced between the two of them. “Should I leave then?”

Both of them shook their heads quickly.

“Nonono! I mean, if you don’t mind, we’ll probably just chill for a little while then study later. Didn’t you have something you wanted to work on too?” Mingyu continued to beam, though Wonwoo could see the touch of nervousness behind it.

“Uh…” Just past the taller boy, he noticed Myungho looking in his direction too, expectantly awaiting an answer. The expression on his face made him look almost guilty, like he felt bad for suddenly showing up. Wonwoo felt a tickle on the back of his neck, though he brushed the feeling aside.

“I mean, you’re here now, right,” he said, almost - _almost_ \- a little too flatly, but he coughed into his arm immediately after, as if he were trying to cover up the tinge of disappointment that seemed to be bubbling up in him. “I have some things I should probably look over anyways.” When his eyes flicked over to the two, he saw the wave of relief washing over the Chinese boy, as well as the pleased grin that brightened the expression on his best friend’s face. A corner of his own lip quirked up, almost unconsciously.

Because at the end of the day, all that really mattered was that they were all friends, that they were all happy, right?

He leaned back into the couch, hoarding the popcorn. Mingyu turned to him again, opening his mouth, waiting to be fed. Again, the older boy cocked an eyebrow at him, which led to the other whining, and Myungho laughing curiously at both of them.

_This isn’t bad._

The three of them ended up somehow sitting in more popcorn than they had managed to actually get in their mouths, the movie mostly missed, though the parts they had caught were mostly due to Mingyu excitedly yelling something about it.

When they finally settled down and the juniors began actually studying, Wonwoo couldn’t help but steal little glances towards them here and there - but in his defense, they kept giggling and _what could possibly be so funny they’re just doing homework for Music Theory?_

“You okay, hyung?”

Mingyu and Myungho were both looking at him, slightly concerned. When he stared back at them, he realized he’d been frowning into his notebook. Relaxing, he shook his head.

“No… No, I’m fine, just… Chemistry, you know.” He shrugged it off. This time, it was Mingyu’s turn to raise an eyebrow at him.

“Alright,” he said after a moment, knowing that if the other boy wasn’t going to say anything more, that was that. All of them turned back to what they were doing - though the oldest felt a bit more self-conscious of his expressions now.

\---

Wonwoo sat alone outside, hiding in the shade of yet another tree - this one was a bit shorter, its branches low enough that if he jumped a little he could probably grab them and hoist himself up. But he sat in the shade, quietly leaning against the tree, musing over events of earlier.

_“Mingyu said you’re gonna come! Are you gonna ask anyone to be your date?” Soonyoung was all but jumping on him at this point, not even close to hiding his excitement._

_Wonwoo shook his head. “Even if there_ was _someone I wanted to ask out, I’m sure they already have a date… but either way, I’m not going to entertain anyone else. I’m just going because I don’t want to be bored.”_

_Mingyu raised an eyebrow in his direction at that, well aware that if Wonwoo had free time, he could find something to fill it. He was never ‘just bored.’_

_“I’m so glad you changed your mind, Wonwoo-hyung! Let’s have fun, okay!” Seokmin beamed at him._

_Their whole group - even Jihoon, as much as he looked like he was trying to hide it - looked happy at the news, but the raven-haired male still couldn’t seem to shake the annoying, prickling sensation tickling down his spine._

He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers open and closed. It felt weirdly quiet - thinking back on it, he realized that he generally wasn’t by himself for very long ever since Mingyu entered his life. In fact, the longest he could remember was roughly about 2 hours when they were in middle school and Mingyu had to go to the hospital: in his attempt to save a cat stuck in a tree, he’d fallen and instead broken his arm. Wonwoo had been there when it happened, but his mom wouldn’t let him go to the hospital with his best friend, so instead he had sat on the floor in the middle of his room sending texts to the other boy, feeling frantic when he didn’t respond for over an hour. (Again, however, he wouldn’t admit such a thing to anyone, nor would he admit to how much it made him smile when Mingyu sent him a picture of his arm in the cast and his signature toothy grin with a message of _I’m okay hyung! How’s the cat?_ )

Letting his eyes slide shut, he wondered how long he’d actually been out here by himself. The breeze that rolled by felt nice, but a part of him felt… lonely.

“There you are.”

Wonwoo’s head whipped towards the voice - it was definitely familiar, but it wasn’t what he was expecting.

Junhui smirked before sitting down next to him.

“I suddenly have a new admiration for Mingyu. Though I can’t help but wonder if it’s some incredible feat, or if the both of you are just two halfs of a whole weird.” The older boy snickered as he looked out at the empty field before them.

The younger blinked, slightly confused as to how his friend _did_ find him, when Junhui turned to look at him again.

“Mingyu told me,” he answered, matter-of-factly.

_Oh._

Wonwoo nodded in acknowledgement before going back to staring into the space directly in front of his eyes.

“I’m surprised,” Junhui began, catching Wonwoo’s attention again.

“Huh?”

“You and Mingyu are usually always together. Did you guys have a fight or something?”

Wonwoo’s face scrunched up at the teasing, laughing at his friend. “No. Mingyu just… hasn’t come to join me, I guess?” He shook his head, casually brushing it off, though he did feel a little hurt saying it aloud - like he was admitting what he kept telling himself wasn’t true. Junhui caught the tiny hint of sadness behind it, but said nothing.

“Anyways, Soonyoung wanted to make plans for prom. They asked me to find you. I told them you weren’t gonna care what they decide, but, you know Soonyoung. He insisted you be there.”

The darker-haired boy squinted towards the other again, watching as, instead of standing up to leave again, he sprawled himself out in the shade, staring up towards the sky.

“It’s a nice day.”

Wonwoo hummed in response. It didn’t take him much time to realize that although his friend was sent to retrieve him, he was in no way trying to rush him along. Quietly smiling to himself, he reminded himself that there was a good reason why he was so close to Junhui before letting his eyes shut again.

“Ugh.”

The younger boy blinked, finding the other staring at his phone. Junhui glanced up between his bangs.

“Soonyoung said he tried to text you.”

“My phone is muted.”

“I figured. Which is why he texted me. ‘Hurry up, we need to figure out where we’re eating!’”

Wonwoo chuckled at how Junhui rolled his eyes. The both of them slowly began to pick themselves up after a brief moment.

“Guess we better go sit there while Soonyoung picks the place, like usual, right?” Junhui joked, nudging the younger. They shared a laugh as they began to walk off.

“Listen, Wonwoo,” he began again, slinging an arm across the boy’s shoulders. “Use this night to relax a little, to unwind. I know you got a lot of shit on your plate, but don’t let it eat you. You know that’s why we’re doing this right? It’s a little bit about celebrating our last year… but it’s also to have a little fun between all the studying. You need to loosen up the most of all of us.”

Even without looking at his face, Wonwoo knew his friend was trying to smile supportively. He knew his friend was just trying to make sure he was okay without directly asking what was wrong.

“I know.”

\---

“Ah… Wonwoo-hyung… I’m sorry.” Mingyu scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly, avoiding meeting the elder’s gaze.

“...it’s okay. Next time, I guess?” Wonwoo glanced just behind the taller boy, catching Myungho’s eye from the living room. The smile on his face was gentle and leaning towards apologetic, but the senior quickly looked away. It wasn’t Myungho’s fault, nor was it Mingyu’s fault. It was just… bad timing.

“Yeah. Next time, I promise. Sorry hyung… Myungho and I just have a lot of stuff going on in our classes suddenly. You remember last year with Junhui-hyung, right?” Mingyu chuckled slightly and Wonwoo matched it.

“Yeah… yeah I remember. No, I get it, ‘gyu. Just. Uh. I guess call me when you aren’t busy, okay?” The older finally looked up - funny how a step made Mingyu seem like he was towering over him when their height difference wasn’t much at all to begin with.

Their eyes met and Wonwoo could see how guilty the younger boy felt. His face perked up a bit - spending time together meant a lot to the both of them. They were best friends. They’d work something out.

At the sight of his smile, his best friend finally let his shoulders relax, half smirking in that way that poked his canines out.

“I will. Soon! Okay? Let’s do something fun!”

Wonwoo nodded - although disappointed he couldn’t have time with the other now, at least there was still a promise of next time.

Mingyu peeked behind him, noticing Myungho shifting on the couch. “Sorry hyung, we really need to get to work… I’ll text you tonight, okay?”

“Okay. See you later, Mingyu.”

The smile the younger boy left him with was all the brighter, and Wonwoo wondered how he managed to somehow be that happy when just moments ago he looked like he was ready to (almost literally) beat himself up.

Myungho was lucky. Mingyu always had a way of brightening the mood, even without trying.

Turning away from the door as it shut, Wonwoo pulled his phone from his pocket. His thumb hovered over the text conversation he had with his best friend, half-tempted to send him a message already.

Instead, he changed his mind and shot a text off to Junhui, before walking off towards a nearby park that he knew of. Might as well get some studying of his own done.

“Alone again?”

Even the teasing lilt of Junhui’s voice didn’t pull Wonwoo’s eyes from the page - the younger boy merely hummed in reply as his friend sat down across from him. Lazily, his gaze slid to his notebook as he jotted down another note from his reading, partially ignoring the feeling of being watched by the other boy.

“No Mingyu again today?”

His hand stilled, his eyes unfocusing on what he was looking at, instead seeing his best friend and Myungho in the back of his mind. After a moment, he shook his head, continuing with what he was doing.

“No.”

Junhui’s smile faltered briefly, though the other boy still hadn’t looked up. The tone of his friend’s voice was flatter than what even he was used to, and Junhui had heard him be annoyed more often than either could count.

“He’s busy. Studying with Myungho. Like us last year.” Wonwoo turned the page, his voice a tiny bit smaller. He bit the inside of his cheek absentmindedly, wondering if Mingyu felt this way when he was spending so much time studying with Junhui. A wave of guilt swept over him - he’d have to do something nice with his best friend next time.

“Mm. So that’s why you texted me to come to the park so urgently.”

“What, feeling jealous you’re always my backup plan?”

Junhui smirked, the snark in his friend’s voice a small sign that he was lightening up even just a little.

“You wish. You’re lucky I could fit you into my hectic schedule.”

“Schedule of what? Staring at your TV and jerking off?”

“Hey, I have a lot of very important things on my to-do list that I just put to the side for you, alright?”

Wonwoo peered up through his bangs, grinning slyly at Junhui’s mildly displeased expression from not having expected quite the response he received.

“Thanks, Jun,” he returned his gaze to the chemical formulas in his textbook, his voice lighter.

Junhui quirked an eyebrow towards him, gently placing his own textbook on the table. It was rare for any of them to call him just Jun. “For?”

“For coming out here.”

_For keeping me from my thoughts._

\---

_From: Gyu 12:16_

_Fuck sorry hyung… Myungho stayed the night, but we should be able to finish our project hopefully by today. I’ll text you when it’s done and then we can hang out okay?!_

_To: Gyu 12:21_

_Ok_

_To: Junhui 18:57_

_Do you wanna help me finish this pizza and movie_

_From: Junhui 19:04_

_I thought u were w mingyu_

_To: Junhui 19:05_

_Would I be asking if I were_

_From: Junhui 19:07_

_Touche. Lemme get pants_

_To: Junhui 19:08_

_Wash your hands before you leave_

_From: Junhui 19:08_

_Ha. Real funny woo_

_From: Gyu 23:05_

_HYUNG :(((_

_From: Gyu 23:06_

_IM SO SORRY_

_From: Gyu 23:06_

_HYUNG WE JUST FINISHED_

_From: Gyu 23:07_

_FUCJ ILL MAKE IT UP TO YOI_

_From: Gyu 23:07_

_IM REALLY REALY SORRY HYUNG :’(((_

_To: Gyu 23:14_

_It’s ok gyu. I’ll see you tomorrow_

_From: Gyu 23:15_

_Ok :(_

_\---_

Even Soonyoung and Seokmin stared without a word as they watched Mingyu continually glance from his lunch to his best friend, then back to his food, while Wonwoo seemed to be absorbed in a conversation with Junhui. Of course, they had all seen Mingyu have quiet moments and Wonwoo have loud moments, but generally the two would be on the same end of the spectrum, rather than… this. The two sunshine friends looked to each other, reading the other’s thoughts from their expressions. _It’s like they switched personalities._

A loud outburst of laughter from Wonwoo and Junhui caused everyone’s heads to turn towards them.

“I’m not even sure I want to know?” Jihoon rose an eyebrow in their direction.

Junhui waved him off. “Nah, it was just something dumb from a movie we watched last night.”

Mingyu breathed out a tiny _oh_ that didn’t go as unnoticed as he’d thought it would. Attention shifted to the tallest of the group - even Wonwoo shifted to face him, a confused expression across his best friend’s features. He peeked up at everyone looking at him before averting his gaze back to his food and shaking his head.

“N-no, it’s nothing. Sorry,” he mumbled, side-eyeing Wonwoo.

The others gave one another unusual expressions before going back to what they were doing - but not without casting concerned looks towards their friend first.

Mingyu jolted in his seat slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder, heard a whisper in his ear.

“Are you okay?”

He turned his head, meeting Myungho’s worry-filled eyes. His expression softened as he nodded once.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Don’t worry abo-”

The sound of movement just behind him cut his own whispers short, causing him to quickly whip around - there he found Wonwoo slinging his bag over his shoulder as he gathered up the remains of his lunch.

“Wonwoo?”

Their group of friends all watched as well - Soonyoung’s brow furrowed, Seokmin and Jihoon sported confused expressions, while Junhui’s mouth hung open as if he were also just mid-sentence. But Wonwoo said nothing and simply tossed his trash in the garbage bin and walked off - though, they could agree, it wasn’t unlike him to leave suddenly. No, that was definitely a Wonwoo thing, when he felt the need to be alone suddenly.

It was unlike him to not say anything to Mingyu first.

An awkward minute passed before anyone even really reacted.

“Uhm…” Soonyoung looked around at everyone else. “I’m sure he’s okay… I bet he just remembered something he needed to do for class! You all know Wonwoo, always gotta be the best, always so focused!” He laughed anxiously. “Right guys?”

“R-right,” Seokmin chimed in, trying to smile. “Y-yeah, totally. Or maybe he realized he left something behind in one of his other classes, like his headphones or something! Hyung has nice headphones, I’d rush off for them if I were him too!”

The two normally infectiously happy boys could only eke out hollow chuckles, while Junhui groaned to himself, massaging his brow. Jihoon sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do as he tried to finish his food quietly.

Gently, Myungho rubbed circles into Mingyu’s back, frowning slightly as the older one finally turned back around.

“Hey, don’t blame yourself,” he whispered reassuringly. “It’s not your fault.”

Mingyu gave him a weak half-smile as he shook his head.

“No. No, it is my fault.”

\---

“Yeah.”

Wonwoo tried to zone Junhui out with the text on the history of classic Korean politics, but because of the barely audible voice on the opposite end of his friend’s phone conversation, he was finding it difficult to focus. He knew who Junhui was talking to, and instead of words from the book, his eyes kept seeing the other boy’s face.

“Nah, he’s fine. We’re studying.” Junhui paused, and Wonwoo heard the phone garbled sound of Mingyu’s voice. “Yeah. I’ll let him know.” Wonwoo saw a smile crack the elder’s face before he burst into a small bout of laughter.

“Are you sure you two aren’t dating?” Junhui addressed the question to both the other side of his phone conversation and the boy in front of him, an eyebrow raising in addition to his teasing smirk. Wonwoo rolled his eyes as what sounded like a cracked, slightly whiny _hyuuung_ came from the phone. Chuckling, Junhui switched to speaker and Mingyu’s voice came through loud and clear.

“--nd besides, if we were dating you’d better bet your ass that we’d be the cutest damn couple at school.”

“What makes you think that?” Wonwoo inquired, his own eyebrow quirking up.

“W-Wonwoo..?” Mingyu sputtered slightly, caught off guard. Junhui snickered, failing to keep his amusement in.

“Hello to you too, Kim Mingyu.”

“You can’t tell me it’s not true,” he retorted, a touch of his confidence returning after the initial surprise.

Wonwoo snorted, and he could almost _hear_ the pout in Mingyu’s gasp. The three of them snickered, more than just pleasantly amused at their ridiculousness.

“Alright, lover boys, kiss and make up later, we gotta go back to work. Later Mingyu.” Junhui grinned at Wonwoo, glad to see a genuine smile on the younger boy’s face.

Mingyu snorted, laughing again at the oldest. “Bye Junhui-hyung! Text me later, okay Wonwoo-hyung?”

Nodding, Wonwoo couldn’t help how much the corners of his mouth pulled up, almost without him even thinking about it. “Yeah. See you later, ‘gyu.”

They could hear Mingyu’s own smile in his voice too. “See you later, ‘woo.”

Junhui grinned teasingly as the line clicked closed, reaching out to slide the phone back into his pocket. Wonwoo eyed him oddly. The elder hummed, shaking his head as he casually returned his attention to his work, shaking his head and mumbling _oh nothing ‘woo_ with another chuckle.

Still watching the other suspiciously, Wonwoo attempted to look back to his own work as well, but realized that focusing was next to impossible.

_The cutest couple… what the hell, Kim Mingyu._

_“You can’t tell me it’s not true.”_

He shook his head, trying to shake Mingyu’s stupid smiling face out of his mind, fixating his eyes instead on an image of the Mangwol-dong cemetary.

Unfortunately, it didn’t help much.

“Jeon Wonwoo.”

His head whipped up at the sound of his name, finding his friend staring at him with a concerned expression, pen barely hovering above his notebook. Wonwoo exhaled, letting his eyes slide shut with the realization that he was acting strange. He placed his own pen down and ran his hands over his face.

“Wonwoo, you sure you’re okay?”

The younger boy nodded, exhaling again as he looked at his friend again. “Yeah. Just tired.”

Picking up his pen, he tried again to look through his textbook, though his thoughts were still a jumble. At least he was able to pretend a little better, enough to where the other didn’t question him.

Junhui frowned, adding another checkmark beside his mental checklist of “Wonwoo is not himself,” but deciding against pressing too far. Obviously there was something wrong, of course he wasn’t as okay as he was trying to be, but if he wasn’t going to talk about it, there wasn’t anything Junhui could say to convince him otherwise. He watched as the other boy sighed again, turning to the next page and slowly jotting a note down. The older boy turned his attention back to his own textbook, glancing up occasionally to check on his friend.

\---

Beaming like usual, Soonyoung slapped his hands across his taller friends’ backs, ignoring how they both winced and threw him dirty looks (also like usual).

“You clean up nicely, kids,” he snickered as he looked the both of them up and down. “Did you rent your suits?”

Wonwoo’s attention reverted back to the mirror as he fixed his tie - he was wearing a white dress shirt with a solid black color block across his middriff and elbows paired with his solid black slacks (that pulled up high enough to expose part of his calves if he bent his knees enough, much to his annoyance) and the black, single button tuxedo jacket (that he decided against wearing out because it felt too formal to him).

“No… family friend got married last summer, so I’ve just had this suit, and I got this shirt after I said I was going with.” He adjusted the cuffs of said shirt as Soonyoung continued to smile. The blonde was adorned in black on black, a black trilby atop his head, while on his opposite side Mingyu was more casually traditional in a white button down, black tie, and black slacks.

“This was my dad’s. I had to get it a little tailored but it fit surprisingly well,” Mingyu grinned.

“Seokmin’s tie looks so nice!”

The three boys looked over to see the rest of their group filing in behind them, Myungho holding onto the mentioned accessory as he walked beside the younger.

Seokmin and Jihoon both wore hats similar to Soonyoung’s (coincidentally, they’d all say), but where Seokmin had the more ribbon-like tie and a black jacket over his white dress shirt, Jihoon wore thin black suspenders. Freeing Seokmin from his curiosity, Myungho smiled as he came up beside Mingyu, also dressed in a traditional white shirt, black tux. Junhui, bringing up the rear, wore his own black tux as well, but with a black shirt.

“Wow, you all look great,” Soonyoung proclaimed as he hugged both Seokmin (whose smile lit up the whole room as he hugged back) and Jihoon (who half scowled as he attempted to wriggle out quickly).

“You guys don’t look half bad yourselves,” Junhui smirked, his gaze shifting to Wonwoo, watching his reaction. The raven haired boy raised an eyebrow his way before looking away to (pretend to) adjust his belt.

“Is everyone ready?” Soonyoung moved to face everyone, smile still broad across his face. Most of their group nodded, Seokmin slightly more excited sounding than the rest.

Junhui noticed Wonwoo shift, his eyes suddenly intrigued with the rack where his jacket hung before noticing the bright expression across Myungho’s face as he looked up at Mingyu, his arm threaded through the taller boy’s. The eldest glanced back towards Wonwoo, but before he could say anything, Soonyoung began to speak again.

“Then let’s go guys! The limo my mom rented said they’d be here at 6:30, which is like, right now.”

“A limo?!” Seokmin’s eyes widened before he bounced over to his best friend. “A limo! I’ve never ridden a limo before, this is so cool!”

Both their expressions were overly excited as they started walking towards the door. Jihoon chuckled at them, mumbling _it’s just a fancy car_ as he followed. Mingyu and Myungho joined them, laughing at something the taller one said.

Junhui watched them leave, but before leaving he instead turned towards the other remaining member of their group. Wonwoo pulled his wallet from his jacket, shoving it into one of the pockets of his pants, then patted the article down to check if there was anything else still in the pockets.

“Wonwoo,” the Chinese boy began, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder, causing him to pause.

“What,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Don’t forget what I told you. Now hurry your slow ass up, they all left us behind.” Junhui smirked as Wonwoo shoved him off, a slight smile tugging at the younger’s face as he turned after one final sweep across his jacket.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever _Mun Junhui_ , lazyass extrodinaire.” This time Wonwoo smirked as Junhui feigned offense.

“Oh, I’m sorry I enjoy myself, _Jeon Wonwoo_ , mister anti-party - should I be humbled that you decided to grace us with your presence tonight?”

“I’m sure you do _enjoy yourself_ , Junhui.”

Junhui really gasped at that, as Wonwoo laughed and took the opportunity to run out after the rest, leaving his friend only slightly embarrassed. He felt like he should be used to these kinds of comments, but worrying over how weird Wonwoo has been acting seems to be leaving his defenses low. Shaking his head, he also followed, finding the other climbing into the limo as he passed Soonyoung’s mother at the door.

“Have fun boys, and be careful okay? Junhui, you and Wonwoo keep an eye on everyone, will you?”

“Of course, _eomeoni_.” Essentially resetting his expression, he smiled at her request, bowing slightly, always still very respectful though she would always tell him - and the rest of their friends - they needn’t be so formal and _please, you boys can just call me_ eomma _, you’ve known Soonyoung and our family more than long enough._ She beamed back - it was very evident where Soonyoung got his smile from - before holding her arms out for a hug. Junhui quickly obliged before waving and joining the rest in the vehicle, just as Soonyoung poked his head out the sunroof.

“Bye Mom! See you later! Don’t wait up! Love you!” He waved frantically.

“I love you too, my little star! Now sit down so you can get going!” She blew him kisses as he abided, waving once more as Junhui shut the door and the limo began to pull away, finally on their way.

\---

After a (mostly) hassle-free dinner, the boys arrived at the venue - nowhere too crazy, but still relatively nice compared to their school campus.

“Wow, it’s all so cute!” Seokmin grinned from the painted stars to Soonyoung, who mirrored the action right alongside him.

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Still cheesy though.” Hands in his pockets, he walked past and through the main entrance.

Junhui chuckled, turning to his left towards their quiet friend, who looked like he was trying to keep his attention on anything but directly ahead of him.

“Hey, ‘woo,” he called softly. The boy glanced over, eyebrow raised. Smiling gently, he moved closer, swinging an arm over the other’s shoulders. “You sure you good? I know how much you usually hate stuff like this.”

Wonwoo looked up for a second before averting his gaze back towards the ground and nodding. “Yeah.”

Junhui nodded as well, squeezing his friend’s shoulder lightly before starting to guide them forward, just behind the rest of their group.

The raven haired boy spent a majority of his time sitting at a table - at some point he was hanging around the refreshments for a little while, but soon went right back to sitting. Sitting and watching. A handful of times some people had come up to him, like a few girls who either didn’t have dates or ditched their original dates, asking if he would dance - at any other time he might have humored them and danced with one or two (he wasn’t necessarily one of the more popular guys at school, but he was well aware of some of the idolizing that people had for not only him but his group of friends), but tonight he was only really up for sitting there. Even Wonwoo himself wasn’t really sure why.

He watched everyone on the dance floor - there were some who were obviously being way too inappropriate but somehow getting away with it, some who looked so incredibly awkward either with just how they were dancing or with their date, and some who were just having the time of their lives. Yes, he was more than well aware of all of them there, even the handful of people he didn’t recognize from around campus that he assumed were guests, or the fresh alums who were invited by a current student - but only just. As he gazed out into the crowd of people, the ones he really saw were his friends - the ones he really cared about.

Somehow it seemed that Soonyoung had managed to tap into and unlock some secret side of Jihoon that Wonwoo couldn’t recall ever seeing before - some side where Jihoon actually let loose and looked like he was genuinely just _having fun_. He always knew that Soonyoung was an immensely talented dancer, but Jihoon seemed to be keeping up with almost every movement, much to the raven haired boy’s surprise. Seokmin wasn’t necessarily the most amazing, but he looked to be enjoying himself regardless of how silly he appeared with his random motions right alongside them.

Junhui was also an incredible dancer - he was the reason Wonwoo met Soonyoung initially, after having introduced the blonde as a fellow member of the dance club he attended way back when - and attracted more than just a little attention in the middle of the crowd. Wonwoo couldn’t help but roll his eyes and chuckle the one time he caught the Chinese boy’s gaze and received a devious wink as he spun the girl he was with while fluidly switching to another partner. The raven haired boy couldn’t really say anything though - this was Junhui simply having fun, and he wasn’t hurting anyone as a result of it.

The eldest did join Wonwoo after a time of this, however, smirking to himself as he plopped down next to the other.

“I haven’t seen you leave this seat since we got here,” Junhui began.

“Because you’re busy dancing with half the people on the dance floor, because I _have_ left this spot, multiple times actually,” the younger retorted.

“But not to join any of us, especially not me, since I would know if I actually had danced with half the people there,” the Chinese boy shot back, snickering.

Wonwoo shrugged, his amusement quickly fading. “Just not feeling it.”

“So why did you decide to come then?”

At the question, the younger looked to his friend, who watched him curiously, then out to the crowd again, his eyes finding the others - Soonyoung and Seokmin cheering Jihoon on, and Mingyu spinning Myungho around, all of them with bright, excited smiles in their faces.

However, Junhui didn’t miss how Wonwoo’s fist clenched slightly. He turned towards where the younger was watching, finding Mingyu and Myungho making their way towards them, laughing.

“Wonwoo, Junhui-hyung, you should join us!” the taller shouted as they got close.

The eldest smiled back, shaking his head. “It’s okay. I need to take a break for a bit before I totally burn out.”

“‘woo, how about you? Just like when we were younger, right?” Mingyu snickered as he looked from his best friend to his date.

Wonwoo didn’t seem as amused, his ears dusting a pale pink as he stared at his hands.

“Mingyu, you don’t gotta tell everyone what we did as kids,” he mumbled, fiddling with his nails. “Besides you’re here with your date why are you asking me to dance? You of all people know I don’t like parties like this…”

Surprised, Junhui looked at Wonwoo with concern as the boy refused to look up.

“I… uh… okay…? I just thought that since you decided to come that I’d, y’know, try to hang out with you a little, since I haven’t really be able to lately, but, what the fuck Wonwoo? Why’d you even change your mind if you were just going to brood here and whine about how you don’t like it?”

Surprised again, Junhui looked up at Mingyu, eyes wide as the taller boy stared down, looking hurt like the other had just told him his puppy died. The eldest saw Wonwoo squirming in his seat, silenced, and opened his mouth to say something, but Mingyu had already turned, pulling Myungho away.

“C’mon, let’s not spoil our night because someone wants to be a lonely asshole.”

The raven haired boy exhaled as the pair reached the dance floor, disappearing amongst the crowd. Junhui watched their backs until he lost track of them, before turning his attention to the other once more.

“What the fuck was that?”

It took a moment for a response, but Wonwoo merely shook his head weakly.

Sighing, Junhui glanced towards the dancers, finding only smiles on everyone’s faces, before back to Wonwoo, concerned.

“It’s because of Mingyu, right?”

Wonwoo bit his lip.

“I’ve heard that how you handle a fight with someone you care about shows how you truly feel about them. Like if you’re able to patch things up right and grow from it, your relationship is stronger in the end, right? Well you guys are closer than anybody or anything I’ve ever seen, so whatever the hell that was, I’m sure you’ll just get closer from it, right?”

Wonwoo’s gaze remained trained on his hands, but his motions stilled at Junhui’s attempt at cheering him up, which the older took as a sign to continue.

“It wasn’t like this last year when you guys didn’t see each other a lot because we were studying together, was it?”

The younger shook his head slowly.

“What’s so different about it this time?”

Again, Junhui gazed out towards the others, finding Myungho’s arms wrapped around Mingyu’s neck - a slow song had started up, and most people had cleared the floor, leaving couples and dates swaying together (and a few solos here and there, bravely asking others to join them in the middle). A thought occurred to him, but he pushed it aside - Wonwoo wasn’t really the type to get overly emotional (at least not to the point of making it obvious to anyone).

“...I don’t know.”

He almost missed the response, what with how quiet it came out - and he almost missed when Wonwoo stood up, muttering a small _I need to go_ as he turned and began to walk off.

Surprised yet again, Junhui’s gaze flickered between the boy’s retreating back and their friends dancing the night away. A part of him debated following after, but, honestly? This was the most Wonwoo-like thing he’d done in the past week.

And besides, chasing after Wonwoo was always Mingyu’s job, wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> brownie points to you if you get the reference for their prom outfits :)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if I missed any typos or if there's anything weird OTL
> 
> Leave me feedback I love comments and things ㅠㅠ And feel free to hit me up on Twitter (@myxktwt) or Kakao (myxsis) if you want~


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